Of course not, but the magazine *is* called "Hobby Farms" for a reason.They're written to appeal to the poultry neophyte, the impulse buyer of fluffy baby chicks in the spring, the folks who didn't even know chickens come in colors, much less breeds. They provide a valuable service with articles on basic animal husbandry and the joys of keeping chickens that are designed to inspire the new owner. We *want* those new people to be interested in Buckeyes (really, any standard breed of poultry) because while 90% of the people who buy the magazine will have tired of chickens and move on to the "next thing" within 3 years, 10% will stick it out for 5 years and upgrade to standard bred birds and maybe 5% will eventually become breeders. Considering how many breeds are in decline, it's great that the Buckeye can garner recognition every 4 years or so in a glossy, full color magazine. Truth be told, it's great when *any* of the old breeds are featured.
My local feed store carries a rack of Leanin' Tree greeting cards, but I've never seen any of those magazines for sale anywhere but the franchise stores. Around here, the franchise (I call them farmer-lite) stores are geared to the urban hobbyist; the person just starting out with four hens in a rabbit hutch in the backyard, someone who bought a house with five acres that they want to keep mowed like a lawn, or the ubiquitous family with a preteen daughter and a horse. You can find hunting supplies like automatic feeders and deer stands and corn in easy to carry 25 pound bags for the guy whose regular exercise consists of walking from the house to the car five days a week, decorative country themed knick knacks, a selection of clothing in pink or camo or John Deere green, some fencing, riding lawnmower parts and load it yourself bagged feed. But when you get serious about your livestock and poultry, around here you're more likely to buy about a half ton of feed at a time from one of the local feed stores that might not have scented candles and Ertil toys for the kids, but the feed is going to be consistently good quality. that's not to say the franchise stores are bad, I just prefer to support a locally owned business that understands the value of customer service. Back up to the dock and they send out a polite young man to load it up.
*sigh* Now if they would only let me borrow one of those guys to take home and help me UNload it, I'd be set.
Not putting light on any this winter and I provide no heat either... ya gotta be tough to live on my place. The two breeds I have are in a communal winter "coop" (a bunch of draggable hoop coops butted up to a shed), so probably late January I'll take the roos out and a month later (to make sure there is no chance of crossbred chicks from hen-stored semen) I'll make another pen and put roosters back with their own-breed hens. I'll begin collecting eggs to hatch after we stop having frozen weather -- and therefore frozen eggs -- during the day (probably late March), so I doubt I'll have anything actually hatch before sometime in April.
Wyandottes and ChanteclersIs there any other breed you'd like to see besides Buckeyes?
